Life of Pi: the Good Kind of Lie

Sometimes a lie is better than the truth. Now I’m not saying that you should lie to your parents about the dent on their car or lie to your friends about getting lucky with that girl last weekend, but every so often a situation comes along in which a small fabrication will better warrant the situation. In the novel Life of Pi, the author Yann Martel tells a fantastic story about a young boy at sea, trapped on a lifeboat with a 450lb Bengal tiger. During their journey, the unlikely castaways face an epic adventure of survival; crossing paths with such characters as a homicidal hyena, a motherly orangutan, a dead on arrival zebra, and a French blind cannibal. In the end the two find sanctuary after 227 days upon their arrival to the coast of Mexico. Now I know what you’re thinking. “This sounds pretty unbelievable”. Well you’re right to think so, but the truth in this case, is something you’re better off not knowing. The end of the novel brings about the knowledge that the animals in the story were in fact people and their grim deaths, including that of his mother, Pi had witnessed. Given the setting, this shouldn’t be seen as a lie, but rather as story telling. The act of story telling is a great thing. It can drum up adventure in the heart of the audience, make you feel a great deal of emotion for someone you’ve never met or isn’t even real, but to some it is a way to cope with an occurrence in which the truth is too terrible to deal with. We’ve always been taught never to lie and therefore it is an act that is seen as wrong be any means, however, given the right circumstances telling a lie, whether it be to yourself or to others, is the best possible way to avoid a traumatic experience of the past. Throughout the story Pi tells the more enjoyable version of his story, though the realization of this does not occur to the reader until the end of the novel. Through retrospection it is easy to see the fiction and the significance it holds....

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...﻿Characters:
Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) -
The protagonist of the story. Piscine is the narrator for most of the novel, and his account of his seven months at sea forms the bulk of the story.
Piscine’s nickname, Pi, has a symbolic relationship with the mathematical pi (π) . The ratio of the circumference (circular) of a circle to its diameter (linear) is pi. The correlation between the linear journey to North America and the cycles of doubt and faith are experienced by Pi. Mathematical relationships are calculated and explained logically and rationally by the irrational number pi. Unbelievable experiences and irrational events are explained logically and rationally by Pi. Neither Pi nor pi can be confined by logic or taken to a coherent ending point. Pi is sixteen when he is shipwrecked, and pi is the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. Pi even uses pi (π) to work out the circumference of the algae island.
Richard Parker –
The Royal Bengal tiger with whom Pi shares his lifeboat.
He kills the hyena on the lifeboat and the blind cannibal. With Pi, however, Richard Parker acts as an omega, or submissive, animal, respecting Pi’s dominance.
Francis Adirubasamy –
The elderly man who tells the author Pi’s story during a chance meeting in a Pondicherry coffee shop. He...

...in Chapter 1.
As a teenager in Pondicherry, India, Pi Patel describes his family – himself, his parents, and his brother Ravi. He is constantly exploring new opportunities and learning many odd and exciting things. His father is the proprietor of the Pondicherry Zoo, where Pi learns much of the workings and raising of animals. Pi’s mother is an avid reader and introduces to him numerous literary works from which he learns the joys of numerous schools of thought. His school is filled with amazing teachers, one of whom, Mr. Kumar is an inspiration to Pi.
Deriving his full name (Piscine) from a world famous swimming pool in France, his parents are good friends with Francis Adirubasamy (from the author’s note), a world class swimmer who often goes on about the Piscine Molitor in Paris. He goes by Pi instead because his schoolmates make a big deal out of calling him “pissing” instead as it sounds similar. They all take to the name and from that point on, his name is no long Piscine but Pi.
Pi grew up a Hindu, but discovered the Catholic faith at age 14 from a priest by the name of Father Martin. He is soon baptized. He then meets Mr. Kumar, a Muslim of some standing and converts to Islam. Therefore, he openly practices all three religions avidly. When the three religious teachers meet up with his parents at the zoo, they demand that he choose a single religion, to which he...

...Honors Period 3
Life 0f Pi Essay
9/21/14
“The Use of Geography in Life of Pi”
Life of Pi by Yann Martel, follows the life of a young boy named Pi, who is marooned in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after a shipwreck. He is only accompanied by a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a brutal, barbarous Bengal tiger. Young Pi must confront the elements and live at the will of Mother Nature throughout the book as he tries to stay alive in the vast abyss of the Pacific Ocean. How to Read like a Professor, by Thomas Foster is a guide to unlocking the hidden truths in any work of literature. In Chapter 19, “Geography Matters”, Foster explains how geography can play a leading role in literature in shaping the plot, characters, tone, and theme. In Life of Pi, geography assumes a central role in Pi’s narrative.
Geography in literature can suggest new ideas about life in general. Possibly one of the most confusing parts in Life of Pi is when Pi gets stranded on the Algae Island. The geography exposes hidden meanings concealed in the story. I believe the algae island represents what happens when humans turn away from God and focus more towards secularist ideals. Soon you will be eaten up by your own ego, (i.e. the tooth in the tree.) However, Pi finds his faith...

...Reading Log #1 (Ch.1-20)
• The protagonist of the novel is Pi Patel
• The narrator keeps shifting from Pi to the author
• Pi had studied religion and Zoology at UfT
• Pi dislikes agnostic people for their thought of god
• The author tells us Pi’s about 40, reserved and cautious yet still excitable
• Pi’s uncle Mamaji was a champion swimmer. He taught Pi how to swim
• Mamaji would tell stories about historic pools around the world. The best he claims is the Piscine Molitor in Paris
• Pi was named after the pool, Piscine Molitor Patel
• After Pondicherry received a zoo Pi moved there and his father bought it
• Quote on religion, zoo and freedom, “the gist being animals are really free in zoos and religion frees the believer
• When a young boy, kids would tease him over his name because Piscine heard like pissisng
• So 1st day of high school, before the teacher said his name he made it apparent to everyone he would like to be called Pi by writing it on the board and drawing the pi symbol. The nickname sticked.
• Mr. Kumar said trust science and communism over religion, Pi disagrees however admires him
• His father calls Pi and his brother Ravi to teach them about animals in the zoo. He showed them the difference between safe and dangerous animals
•...

...Life of Pi
The book starts with the author telling in a note about going to India. In India he meets a man named Francis Adirubasamy in a coffeehouse in Pondicherry. The response Francis comes up with to the author’s need for inspiration is “I have a story that will make you believe in God.” After which he refers to the author as Piscine Patel in Toronto, who starts to tell his story.
When Pi was a teenager in India, he lived with his parents and his brother Ravi. He frequently explores new opportunities and learns many weird and exciting things. Pi’s father is the owner of the Pondicherry Zoo, where Pi learns much of the interactions with the animals will occur. Pi’s mother is a passionate reader and shows him a lot of books. Pi’s school is filled with amazing teachers, one who really effects Pi is Mr. Kumar.
Pi gets his full name (Piscine) from a world famous swimming pool in France. Pi’s parents are good friends with Francis Adirubasamy (authors note), a world class swimmer who often talks about the Piscine Molitor in Paris. He goes by Pi instead of because many of the people at his school call him “pissing”.
Pi grew up a Hindu, but soon was exposed to the Catholic faith when he was 14 from a priest by the name of Father Martin. Pi soon gets baptized. Pi soon meets Mr. Kumar, a Muslim who converts to Islam....

...Martel's "The Life of Pi" is a coming of age story about a young man's reaching maturity through tragic but uplifting story of loss and miraculous survival. The story is based on a journey which contains adventure, tradgedy, humour, and also the survival of the fittest mentality. Yann Martel depicts a story of a youth who seeks knowledge, wisdom, connectivity, and spirituality through religeon and zoology. Applying the craft's he has practiced and is taught, protagonist Pi Patel seeks survival on a stranded boat with an orrangatang, a tiger, an injured zebra and a hyena.
Yann Martel's tail starts off with Pi chronicaling his life in India in a city called "Pondicherriy". Pi is a student, he characterizes his life through zoology, and religeon. His father is an owner of a zoo in India and he teaches his sons (Pi, and Ravi) the livliness and the demeanor of the animals. Pi takes precaution and listens too what is said and learns how to control and care for the wild animals in the zoo. Later on in the story, his experiences and what he is taught becomes a valuable asset in his survival. Actively he has been practicing the hindu religeon ever since he was born, but his curiousity and act of innocence is lead too to him experiencing a few more religeons. He questions the spirituality, the beliefs, and explores the religeous practicing of...

...Life of Pi
in 2001, Yann Martel authored the fantasy adventure novel, Life of Pi. It is a story about how the narrator and his family are transporting some of the animals from their zoo, when suddenly the ship sinks, and we see how the narrator succeeds in saving the three old adult Bengal tiger, Richard Parker.
Throughout the novel Martel uses numerous references to religion, when he first spots Richard Parker he says “Jesus, Mary, Muhammad and Vishnu, how good to see you Richard Parker”. The narrator also refers to his Mother as his “tender guardian angel of wisdom”. He says a prayer in line 16 when he asks “Vishnu preserve me, Allah protect me, Christ save me”. I think that this theme has been used by Martel to show how if you believe, then anything is possible. While many people do not believe in religion, this novel primer-illy focus' on it and I believe that it is done to show that in your hour of need that; God, Allah and Vishnu will all be their to provide and assist you. However the narrator may wish that they had not done so; as it turns out that after saving the creature that he has to throw himself overboard in order to prevent being mauled by the tiger. Their is also a theme of irony in the novel. Throughout the whole novel until we are told otherwise, the reader preconceives Richard Parker for another human being; and then find out that he is a Bengal tiger. This is ironic as the...